Windsor police say downtown core is 'very safe' amid increased presence

Windsor police say the city's downtown core is "very safe," following their increased presence in the area, after another weekend of violent incidents. 

In a press release on Sunday, Windsor police said they increased their presence in the downtown core Monday after two weekend assaults. The two incidents this weekend follow a pair of random assaults the previous weekend in the downtown core that took place an hour apart.

On Tuesday, police had a clear message to the public: 

"There have been some concerns, how safe the downtown is. I can assure you, the downtown is very safe," said acting deputy Chief Jason Crowley, in a news conference Tuesday.

Crowley did not elaborate on how long the increased police presence in the downtown core will last. 

The rash of recent violence had some people feeling uneasy about the crime in the downtown core. 

Windsorite Zoran Konjicij has lived in the downtown area for nearly 25 years. He says police officers alone cannot solve the issues he sees in the area. 

"They're law enforcement, not social workers," he said. "They cannot be there to remedy something that's a long-term issue."

Konjicij said he saw the aftermath of one of this past weekend's incidents.

"The next morning I was going to get coffee and I see the city workers washing the blood with the power washer," he said. "This is not anything anybody wants to see, right?"

Konjicij says he wants to see more assistance from higher levels of government.

"The downtown core needs more resources," he said. "We're trying to elect people who will change things because clearly, the status quo is not working."

Bob Cameron is the co-director of the Downtown Windsor Community Collaborative, a community development group aimed at improving the city's core. He says the recent increase in violent street crime is "unexplainable." 

"We feel the sorrow of it because the victims involved are our neighbours. We care for them and we love them," he said. 

Cameron also wants to support the suspects who are conducting the incidents. 

"Those who are doing the work are our neighbours too," he said. "Our response is, 'How can we respond to this in a productive and constructive way?'"

Cameron feels the biggest reasons why these incidents occurred is due to the lack of outreach during the COVID-19 pandemic and an increase in drug use.

"There's been some really positive responses that are coming out of it behind the scenes," he said.

"The safe consumption site, agencies working together, the health unit, the hospitals, the police, community development groups like ours saying, 'How do we deal with the structural problems?' There's no silver bullet to this. It's going to take a lot of hard work and people working together."